Well . . . guess what! For our tenth wedding anniversary, earlier this month, Oscar and I (finally) went to Hawaii! :D As you'd expect, it was AMAZING and we had a fantastic time!! Below are some of the best pictures from our trip! <3

​Well, I’m copying off Katherine this time...heh. (And her post isn’t even quite up yet!) Plus, I’m doing a similar topic for the next Thinklings newsletter next week—you can sign up here to read it—so I decided to whip up a quick nostalgic post for my blog, too.

Yes, this is a rather eclectic set of topics and somewhat of a rambling post! Heh. But you’ll come to see how those topics are related. It started off as a footnote to my last blog post, but it grew and mushroomed and before I knew it, it was long enough to be its own post—and since I’m always in need of (and struggle with getting) new ideas for content for this blog, I jumped on it!

Life update: Well, if you haven’t seen in my social media, I’m sick again. My autoimmune disease has once again—after four years—reared its ugly head and decided to chew up my lungs. So I’m back on a medicine (for three weeks, which is mercifully short) that I call “demon pills.” Those filthy demons are the one bit of trauma in my life that I still can’t really talk about, so please don’t ask what medicine it is and what it does. But it’s horrible.

Anyway, I thought I would write, this month, about how to deal with people who are suffering or going through trauma. Any kind of trauma. Because since I have about three decades of experience in that department (15.5 years of being sick, plus daily bullying from K–12), I thought I should put that to some good use and help others understand, if only just a little bit more.

​Hey, guys! Last month, I promised I’d show you what books I’ve been buying/reading, so here we go!

Hi, guys! Just wanted to do a quick update because there's been a lot going on and I've been sick - I'm still getting over a cold (yes, just a cold, not you-know-what again) and I've got work to catch up on!

So, here are the highlights of my month:

February is my least favorite month of the year. It’s cold, dreary, and winter has definitely overstayed its welcome. . . . Not that it’s welcome past New Year’s Day! ;P

But at least this February is not as bad as usual. Why, you ask? Well . . .

I was going to write another peppy post about what was great about last year and what I’m looking forward to this year...

But.

It wouldn’t be very authentic. Because I’m struggling. With health, with hope, with knowing what to do in ANY AREA of my life. I feel lost, floating in a dark place; I don’t know where I am, how big this place is, how to get out...

Thinklings’ newest book (Sand to Glass, a dark literary fantasy) has got me thinking more than usual, lately, about mental health, personality types, and how everyone has their own way of coping with stress. . . . It’s a timely book—very timely, indeed!

I can never decide whether I love fall or spring more – but since it’s fall now, it’s my current favorite! ;)
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Despite some obnoxious setbacks that have happened this month, autumn is probably my most productive season. The invigorating chill in the crisp air energizes me; the oppressive heat of summer has fled, but bone-chilling winter won’t make its unwanted appearance for a while. Fall (like spring) is a reprieve between extremes . . . and I, for one, am not fond of extremes in temperature or weather; they’re hard for my body to handle. It’s also the beginning of hygge season – and it doesn’t get much better than curling under a soft blanket in the evening with a hot drink, some chocolate, and a great book!